Fodor's may use your email address to send you relevant information on site updates, account changes, and offers. For more information about your privacy and protection, please review our full Privacy Policy.

Reliable Internet Access in Italy

We're spending 5 weeks in Italy this coming September, mostly in rented apartments. Although all of the apartments have confirmed there is wireless access available, I will need reliable access for business purposes. We will be staying in Venice, Bologna (only 1 night), Florence, Massa Lubrense and Rome during our trip. Have you found the Internet access to be reliable in these areas? Would it be a good idea to look into purchasing a back-up plan in the form of some kind of USB internet-access device from a local internet service provider? I'd love to hear advice from some of the Italian experts on this forum.

If you need reliable access as much as you say you do I would not rely on some rental description. I recently stayed in a hotel that claimed it had internet access and which one normally has to pay for but i got it complimentary.

It was slow and it was not consistent. Nobody here is going to be able to reassure you unless they have rented the exact same place you are renting. To say that access is reliable in some city is probably true but what can you actually LIVE with?

I guess I'm just asking in general about others' experience using Internet in these regions of Italy and if they felt it would be a good idea for me to have a "back up plan" just in case the access was spotty or unreliable in my rentals. Additionally, if this would be something they would recommend, which service provider should I use?

I agree. The wifi especiallymay be weak or intermittent. It depends on where the router is, of course. In one place we rented you could only get the signal outside as it came from the owner's house 50 feet away, and we just could not pick it up indoors.

At the FCO Marriott you could only get it in the lobby or their "library" or business center. My Ipad could not hold the signal, for some reason. Very frustrating! If you need it for business, definitely get your own device.

If it is for business, I would buy the TIM plan. While my experience is that Italy is making progress in this area, if I had deals depending on accurate, timely communication, I would not risk using what was offered. For example, we were in Florence last month, and while our apartment offered free Wi-Fi, it had to be accessed from the garden. Our usage was 100% non-business, and sitting outside in the garden was pleasant checking email from the states, but doing business would have been sub-optimal.

Venice is a bit shoddy for 3G. The wifi at the hotel was brilliant, but that's not always the case... I had a "3" Mobile 3G data card as a backup, but as I said, it couldn't really receive any signal in Venice. At all. So, for Venice, I think you'll just have to hope that the wifi works